Tuesday, September 23, 2014

It was a warm autumn day, Tim and
two of his friends decided to check out a geocaching trail they had found
online. The web site had said the trail was known for having really unique
items in the caches and well worth the trip.

The first two caches were empty
but they left behind a red solo cup and beer opener in the first one and a
handful of passes for a free round at a nearby miniature golf course. At the
third cache, they found a Roger Clemens trading card in a batting glove. While Jimmy
researched the value of the card, Tim placed an inflatable replica statue of
Gandhi into the cache and covered it back up.

Suddenly eerie green clouds filled
the skies in the distance and the wind began to blow. They could hear the faint
sound of the town's emergency warning siren. "I think its time to turn
around," Dave, the third member of the group, suggested.

“We can probably get two more
done, they’re not too far away,” Jimmy said as he switched back to the trail
map on his phone.

They were halfway to the second
cache when the skies opened and the torrential rain started. The three men ran
back to the parking lot, laughing as they climbed into the car. Tim looked out
the back window and was the first to see the dark swirling cloud.

“Shit! Tornado! Start the car and
boot it out of here!”

Jimmy tried to start the car, it
wouldn’t turn over. The other two men screamed at him to try again. Nothing.
They started to panic, yelling at each other for one thing or another as they
tried to figure out what to do.

“Hunker down,” Dave said and
tucked himself as much as he could into a ball and slide into the area in front
of the seat. Jimmy climbed into the back seat and curled into a ball on the
floor across from Tim.

The small car was quiet as they
waited then filled with screams as the storm rocked the car before lifting and
carrying it several yards before dropping it on its side. The three men waited
for several minutes to make sure it was done.

Dave climbed out of the car then
opened the back door to help Tim and Jimmy out. They looked at the devastation
around them, shocked that they’d somehow managed to survive and beat the odds. The
car, however, was damaged to the point of not being able to drive back to town.

They huddled together for several
minutes then started the trek back to the college, thankful to be alive.